Beetles and Stitches
by sushirapper
Summary: Ace and Sabo are going to get into so much trouble for this, but Luffy has an even better surprise for them. Modern!AU. Two-shot. Pure, nonsensical ASL fluff.
1. Beetles

_Happy 19th Anniversary to the One Piece anime! Here's a little thing I'd meant to write for Luffy's birthday this year, but life kinda got in the way so uhh. Yeah._

 _I hope you enjoy!_

 ** _-shira_**

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own One Piece, all rights belong to Eiichiro Oda-sensei. Also, I don't know a thing about bugs, so everything mentioned about beetles in here is entirely fictional. I'm so sorry.

* * *

" _Ace_ ," Sabo hissed, nearly tripping over a root as he hastily twisted around the tree trunk to get out of the direct line of sight of the guards patrolling by the edge of the school's west building. "Hurry the hell up, we're gonna get caught!"

Ace just laughed at him. Sabo resisted the urge to throw his shoe at the idiot's head.

"Just a lil' more, Bo," he promised. "I've just about—"

Their eldest's voice cut off as stretched his arm out as far as it could go, teetering precariously on the edge of a rather unstable branch high in the treetop.

"Got it!" Ace was _crowing_ and Sabo was going to kick his ass if either of them got into any more trouble because Ace couldn't be bothered to keep his voice down. Still, when Ace flipped out of the tree to land in a crouch by Sabo's feet, he couldn't help hurrying over with his own grin stretched wide in excitement.

"You sure you got the right one this time, then?" Sabo took care to keep his voice low, even if Ace was dumb enough to get them both caught anyway.

Ace scoffed. "Who do you think you're talking to, dummy?" But his voice was full of delight and there was none of the usual biting pride.

He held aloft in his hand the largest beetle Sabo had ever laid his eyes on, and since both he and his brothers spent the majority of their time in the forest next to their house, that really was saying something.

They'd been hunting for the thing for over a _week_ , climbing up precarious looking trees and diving into uninhabited rabbit holes. It had been as fun as it was frustrating to search for so long, but in the end they'd found their quarry in the old tree by the abandoned school building. And just in time, too, because Luffy's birthday was today and they meant to take him out for a celebration of some sort in a few hours. (They had not so surprisingly forgotten to plan that far ahead in the hunt for the perfect present.)

Luffy had gotten obsessed with beetles ever since he became seatmates with that one long-nosed kid and while it was annoying to hear him yell about how cool the things were every other minute, it was admittedly endearing. Like everything else about him.

"Oi, Sabo." He looked back at Ace from where he was watching to make sure no one would see them as the dashed back inside.

"Yeah?"

He made a vague gesture that would have seemed stupid to anyone else but that Sabo understood immediately. Sneaking one hand into his uniform's jacket, he handed Ace a large, empty jar before going back to lookout duty.

The elder grunted as he tried to maneuver the King Kabuto into the jar's smaller opening.

"Sorry 'bout that, Bo," Ace whispered, quiet now that the initial excitement was over. "Thing was starting to squirm and I didn't want it to squirt on me or anything."

Sabo hummed distractedly in response. "Well, yeah, it is your turn to do laundry this week—okay, _go_!"

At his signal, both boys ran for the fences, easily jumping the five-foot stone wall before scrambling up the metal grates. They landed on the other side with a soft thud, hidden by the weathered cement of the abandoned building. Sabo shot Ace a quick grin before ducking into the nearest window and hurrying down a shortcut he'd found that led to the storage room of the Science Building.

Ace whistled cheerily behind him as Sabo silently ran through their options for a celebration for Luffy that would include lots of meat and cold fruit juice but preferably not ruin their pockets. Makino would probably gladly provide the fruit juice, but that left meat which was going to be the bulk of the expenses. They didn't have time to go hunting, but Shanks had gone on a hunting expedition with Mihawk last he'd heard, so maybe there was a chance that—

"Hey, Bo?"

Sabo paused with a hand outstretched towards the door of the storage room. "Yeah?"

Ace leaned against the drawer beside the shortcut's entrance, playing with the jar and tossing it from one hand to the other. Sabo resisted the urge to tell him to be careful with their gift.

"He's gonna love it... right?"

Sighing, Sabo went to swipe the jar out of Ace's hands and tucked it safely back into his own jacket. Then he turned to Ace with what he hoped was a confident smile. "'Course he will, idiot."

" _I LOVE IT!_ "

Weeks of tension seemed to drain out of Sabo's shoulders as Luffy pranced around with the jar held above his head, the classroom empty except for that long-nosed kid cowering in the corner.

Out of the corner of his eye, the blonde saw Ace do the same, although he tried to hide it with a cocky smirk.

"Usopp! Lookie, it's so _cool_ , right? Right?!" The kid seemed to want to sink some more into himself when the older boys' eyes turned to him but he braced himself and went to look at the beetle Luffy had already allowed out of the jar anyway.

Sabo decided privately he kinda liked this kid.

Uspo whistled. "Holy sh- _crap_ , that's _huge_!" Luffy laughed delightedly as the King Kabuto crawled up his arm.

Ace scoffed to hide his pleased smile as Sabo grinned openly at Luffy's joy. "Of course it is. It's a King Kabuto and everything, just like you wanted, right Lu?"

"Yeah!" Luffy handed the beetle to his friend before going to tackle Ace in a hug. "It's _amazing_."

Sabo joined them where they were a tangled mess on the teacher's table and laughed when Ace huffed out a muttered "You're welcome," and patted their youngest's head instead of prying him off like he usually would.

"Happy birthday, Lu," Sabo murmured as the eldest sat up with Luffy still on him, so they could sit next to Sabo and their now-ten-year-old could wrap his arms around both of his brothers.

"Mmm! Thank you so much," Luffy said sincerely. The blonde laughed and teased him about learning manners from Makino. Ace turned an interesting shade of red at that too, surprisingly.

"Umm, guys?" A voice interrupted them before Sabo could call Ace out on it, and three eyes centered on the nervous boy who was holding the beetle upside down and very close to his face. "I hate to break it to you, but uhh. I don't think this is a King Kabuto?"

Sabo feels Ace freeze up next to him and Luffy tilt his head in question. He himself only asked in a soft voice, "I'm sorry, _what did you say_?"

Usopp flinched but held his ground, tilting the beetle up so the other three could see its belly. He pointed at a splotch of white near the bottom and said, "See these? That means it's female. So, if anything, it's a Queen Kabuto."

There's a beat where Sabo's heart sank to his feet and Usopp looked like he wanted to melt into the floor because Ace was glaring at him, but then—

" _THAT'S EVEN COOLER?!_ "

Luffy practically fell to the floor as he rushed to grab the beetle out of his friend's hands, examining the white spots then laughing gleefully as he placed the insect on his head.

He beamed at his brothers and it was like the sun at high noon except the sun is supposed to be setting behind them. "Queens are just as cool as kings, right Sabo? 'Cause they're just as amazing!"

Sabo let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. Cautiously, he asked, "I thought you wanted a King Kabuto though, Lu?"

Luffy hummed as he went to scramble back into Ace's lap. "Oh, I dunno, it doesn't matter, I think? That's just a name. Like a girl can be the king of pirates and they'd still be cool, right?"

Ace's arms wrapped tight around their little brother's body as he settled his legs into Sabo's lap. Then he grinned up at both of them again.

"What matters is that this is the _biggest_ beetle I've ever seen! And it came from both of you?! For my birthday? That is the _coolest_ thing EVER!" He threw his hands up at the last word, yelling, and almost smacked Sabo and Ace by accident.

Not that they'd have minded. Because Sabo was grinning like crazy and Ace had his face turned to the light, but he just knew his eldest brother had the same look on his face.

He shoulder checked Ace and the freckled raven finally turned back to him. With wide smiles, they turned to Luffy and said once more, "Happy birthday, Lu!"

Their little brother grinned big and wide, eyes slipping shut as he gave his little laugh, and Sabo knew it had been worth all the trouble.


	2. Stitches

"Oh!" His youngest brother suddenly exclaimed, almost falling out of Ace's lap a second time. Luffy scrambled off of him and Sabo before sticking the beetle back into its jar and turning to them with that dumb smile.

"Okay, okay, now it's my turn!" He sang, hopping around on one foot in excitement, flapping his arms in a desperate bid to stay upright. Ace made a grab for his wrist to keep him still, but Luffy expertly wriggled out of the way, still obnoxiously chanting 'my turn, my turn!'

Sabo, sensing correctly that his brother's temper was nearing its limit, immediately stepped in to diffuse the situation before Ace could blow his top. "Your turn at what, Lu?"

"My turn for my present!"

The _duh_ was implied.

Sabo's eye twitched.

Ace stepped around the blond to smack a fist on Luffy's head for the both of them.

"That _was_ your present, you idiot. What are you talking about?"

"Nooooooo." Luffy had fallen into a crouch on the floor, whining under his breath about Ace being a meanie (most likely out of habit—Ace hadn't hit him _that_ hard; it was the kid's birthday after all). "It's _my_ turn to _give_ my present."

The usually eloquent Sabo looked torn between laughing and crying from sheer disbelief. "You... you got yourself a present?"

"What? No!" Luffy shot up in indignation, crossing his arms and staring his brothers down. "Why would I do that?"

Ace sighed and mimicked Luffy's position, crossing his arms and glaring back at the ten-year-old.

"What the hell are you talking about then?"

Sabo poked him in the back like a warning, and Ace growled at him too. But Luffy's eyes had lit up and he was off, running for his desk and pulling the top open to rummage inside the desk's compartment. He pulled out two objects intimately familiar to the other two occupants of the room.

"My hat!" Twin yells of relief warring with annoyance resounded and in an instant, the hats were whisked out of his arms and Luffy was crouched on the floor again, whining about being hit. Sabo mournfully picked at his slightly flattened top hat while Ace clicked his tongue in annoyance as he looked over his own cowboy hat from where he stood over Luffy's sulking figure.

The two older brothers shared a glance before Ace whirled to around to yell at Luffy for taking their hats without permission. They'd been missing for a _week_ , and no one had even tried to approach Ace and Sabo the entire time because of their menacing and moping auras, respectively. Ace had hissed at anyone who so much as _looked_ at his bare head, and Sabo would fall into some sort of grieving lethargy whenever asked about it.

Only Luffy's upcoming birthday had minimized the backlash of their attitudes, keeping the two focused on a specific task that they needed to accomplish within deadline.

Luffy was pouting extremely unhappily and still hadn't let go of the back of his head—Ace had hit him for real this time, so it wasn't like they could blame him. Ace hesitated as he twirled his hat around on one finger before sighing and letting his hand fall into a light tap against Luffy's hair, stroking where he'd hit maybe a little _too_ hard, considering it was the youngest's birthday.

"Why do you even need to get us presents, idiot? It's your birthday isn't it?" Sabo was quiet so Ace didn't ask the following, _And how the hell are our own damn hats considered presents, anyway?_

Luffy leaned into Ace's touch and shifted around until he was latched around the freckled boy's left leg like a monkey clinging to a tree.

"Well, 'cause I'm ten now," he answered matter-of-factly.

Like that made any sense to anyone except himself.

Sabo was still staring mutely at his hat, so Ace answered for the both of them again. "How does that even make any sense?"

Luffy wrapped himself more comfortably around his leg before proudly answering, "See, when you and Sabo were ten, you found me and made sure I would never have to be alone again. So now that _I'm_ ten, I wanted to do the same thing for you guys!"

His baby brother's sunshine smile made it a little hard to breathe, but Ace still went and tried to ask _Yeah, but how the fuck does giving us our own stuff back do that?_ because he was an emotionally damaged human being who didn't know how to do anything except act like an asshole in the face of such affection, he knew as much, and—

"Ace." Sabo's voice interrupted the vicious tirade before it started, but judging by its strangled and wretched quality, he wasn't much better off than Ace was.

The brunette met Sabo's eyes, swallowing hard against all the nasty words trying to force their way out of his mouth. Ace didn't trust himself to talk right now, so he raised an eyebrow in question instead.

All he got was a wordlessly raised top hat in response, and a vague wave to Ace's own cowboy hat as an explanation.

He checked his hat anyway—

—and suddenly lost his ability to stand. He fell back onto the chair nearest him, careful not to jostle Luffy, and buried his face in his hands. He heard Sabo walk over and settle down on the side of the chair opposite from where their youngest was still on Ace's leg, and the warmth of his back seeping slowly into Ace's side was a comfort.

There, on the inside of both their hats, were clumsily embroidered letters in three colors: A, S, and L. The stitching was messy, and the L was a little hard to identify as a letter, even, but there was no doubting who'd made it.

"—so I had Makino teach me," Luffy was saying, and Ace had no words left. "Because she's a girl and she likes stuff like that, but the needles are so sharp! I kept messing up on the practice cloth, but it turned out great in the end, right?"

Sabo picked it up from there.

"Yeah, they're amazing, Lu. Can't believe you did it." He _sounded_ together, but Ace could feel the slightest tremor run up his back telling him Sabo was barely keeping it together, too. He dropped one hand away from his face to grip at his brother's shoulder. Encouraged, Sabo took a deep breath and continued, "Can I see where yours is on your hat, too?"

The answer was instantaneous. "Oh, I don't have one."

Both the older boys suddenly turned to the youngest, one in confusion and the other in a surge of hurt.

Luffy laughed like he couldn't believe they didn't get it. "I don't need one, silly!

"You... don't need one?" Ace didn't know how to respond to that.

Luffy nodded in all seriousness, like it was the most solemn thing ever. "Yeah, because I always know I'm not alone, you see? But you and Sabo are really strong, right, so sometimes you forget that you don't have to deal with it by yourselves and that I'm always here, too! So those are for you to see whenever you feel sad because you're lonely!"

There was a beat of silence before Sabo let out a shaky laugh, moving so he could face the other two while still leaning against Ace's side. "So, you never forget that, huh? That we're here for you?"

"'Course not! I know it right here!" Luffy patted a hand against his chest, right over where his heart was, grinning wildly.

Ace cuffed him over the head with a scoff, managing to keep his voice even when he said, "Idiot. Like we'd ever forget."

 _Never ever,_ Ace promised himself later when the three of them finally walked out of their school, Luffy in the middle and their shoulders brushing with each other's, excited just to get back home.


End file.
